Carbon monoxide in group home in Parkville sends 8 to hospital

Kevin Rector, The Baltimore Sun

Eight residents and staff members of a group home in Parkville were taken to area hospitals — six of them to Maryland Shock Trauma Center — for possible chemical exposure in the home early Monday morning, according to Baltimore County fire officials.

County fire officials said late Monday that they had detected carbon monoxide in the home, in the 2800 block of Hillcrest Avenue, and that it was the apparent cause of the illness. However, the fire department was unable to find the source of the carbon monoxide and said the Maryland Department of the Environment will have to investigate further.

The six patients taken to Shock Trauma have since been discharged.

Lt. Jay Ringgold, a fire spokesman, said there is no danger to others in the residential community where the home is located, he said.

Emergency responders were first called to the home, which provides care for residents with intellectual disabilities, about 11:44 p.m. Sunday for a report of an unconscious person, Ringgold said.

That person was taken to Franklin Square Medical Center.

About an hour later, medics were called back to the home, and "started putting the pieces together" that the illnesses were being caused by something in the home, Ringgold said.

In total, four residents of the home and four staff members were transported to area hospitals. Seven were taken to Franklin Square; six of them were later moved to Shock Trauma for treatment in the hospital's hyperbaric chamber, Ringgold said.

An eighth person, a staff member, was taken to Northwest Hospital after returning to her home and then calling for medical assistance.